The Newfoundland Diaspora: Mapping the Literature of Out-Migration

Introduction: Mapping the Literature of Out-Migration

Introduction mAPPINg THE LITERATURE OF OUT-mIgRATION Hines, in his sermon/column, forever likened Newfoundlanders to the Jews, pointing out parallels between them. There was a “diaspora” of Newfoundlanders, he said, scattered like the Jews throughout the world. He saw himself as their minister, preaching to his flock from his columns, most of which began with epigraphs from the Book of Exodus. ––Wayne Johnston, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams I dredge these silted beds but there is nothing left–– the sea is torn, bone-seeded. even my lanky brother has gone west to the mountains. The winter beach is strewn blue with mussels sucked dry. I have abandoned my home. ––Carol Hobbs, “Trawl” In the 1970s my parents, newly married, left their home province of Newfoundland for Alberta. They expected to return in a few years. Two children and more than three decades later, they have not returned to Newfoundland to live. I grew up in Edmonton with my parents referring to Newfoundland as “home,” eating Newfoundland meals, hearing traditional songs, and using Newfoundland expressions without realizing my friends did not understand me. Growing up I did not really consider myself an Albertan, even though I had never lived anywhere else. I constructed my identity out of my Newfoundland 1 2 i n t r o d u c t i o n heritage. My grandparents were always five thousand kilometres away, but I had cousins to play with––many of my parents’ siblings were also compelled to leave. My family’s is a common story, and an old one––Newfoundland’s economic hardships have propelled a continuous stream of out-migration, not only since Confederation with Canada in 1949, but for well over a century. David Alexander explains that Newfoundland’s primary economy, its fishery , simply could not sustain its labour force even as early as the late nineteenth century (“Economy” 29). For some, seasonal work in other places was the solution, but for many, seasonal migration led to permanent settlement elsewhere. As the nineteenth century ended, industrial Cape Breton drew thousands of Newfoundlanders, and the Canadian government actively recruited Newfoundlanders for the western provinces (Crawley 43). Before Confederation, the United States was an even bigger draw; in 1915 there were already 13,269 Newfoundlanders living in Massachusetts alone (Reeves 35). During World War II thousands of Newfoundland women married American servicemen and moved to the States. Following Confederation, Newfoundlanders tended to migrate to Canada rather than the US, most drawn to urban Ontario in search of work. According to Wayne Johnston, by 1963 an estimated two million expatriate Newfoundlanders and their descendants were living elsewhere in Canada or the US––four times the population of the province (Baltimore’s 49). Out-migration was further boosted by the collapse of fish stocks, which culminated in a moratorium on the northern cod fishery in 1992. Between 1971 and 1998 the net loss to out-migration amounted to 100,000 people, about 20 percent of the province’s population (Bella 1). As the final report of the Newfoundland Government’s Royal Commission on Renewing and Strengthening Our Place in Canada (2003) reflects, this dramatic population loss “is a shocking indicator that something has gone seriously wrong in the economy of Newfoundland and Labrador” (35). While many Canadian provinces, particularly other Atlantic provinces, have experienced out-migration for similar reasons,1 Newfoundland’s population loss stands out for its sheer numbers, at times reaching a net rate of more than 6 percent of Newfoundlanders aged five and older (Statistics Canada). Moreover, this statistic does not include the significant amount of seasonal migration that brings Newfoundland labourers back and forth several times a year. As of 2003, Newfoundland’s expatriate community was estimated at a total of 220,000 (Royal Commission i)––a staggering number considering that the province’s population in that year was just 512,500. This long period of population loss may finally be slowing; in 2008 and 2009 the province experienced a brief population increase for the first time in fifteen years (Statistics Canada). Yet census data since then again show an annual population loss to i n t r o d u c t i o n 3 out-migration. The province’s unemployment rate remains the highest in the country, at 13 percent as of June 2012 (Statistics Canada). Out-migration has not been limited to former fishers or young blue-collar labourers. Professionals and...